It has become increasingly difficult to maintain occupational skills at an appropriate level in today's world of complex technology. Maintaining a sufficient skill level among staff members, employees or volunteers is particularly difficult in situations in which the individual is not employed full time in the occupation in question. A typical example is the case of a volunteer fireman or member of a National Guard organization whose training is primarily conducted in short sessions separated by long periods of inactivity. In order to maintain readiness and keep occupational skills at an acceptable level, it would be desirable to provide a training device that would reinforce information learned in formal training sessions.
In order for a training device to be effective, it must be capable of capturing and holding the attention of the user, while at the same time conveying necessary information to the user in a manner in which it will be readily retained. For example, training manuals and video tapes, while containing all of the relevant information required by the user, generally do not generate sufficient interest to hold the attention of the user in a manner that insures relevant information will be retained. Accordingly, while one can require an individual to read a manual, listen to a tape or watch a video, it is questionable as to whether a sufficient amount of relevant information is ultimately transferred from these training materials to the individual required to perform the described tasks. Accordingly, it would be highly desirable to provide a training device that not only conveys the necessary information, but does so in a manner that an individual finds interesting and entertaining, so the individual will be interested in using the training device on a regular basis and will be more likely to retain relevant information conveyed by the training device.